Indy 500 Field Set, Triple Crown Hopes Shattered Once Again

Indy 500 Field Set

We are less than a week from my favorite day in auto racing. Formula 1, IndyCar, and NASCAR all have marquee races that day. But for now, I'm going to concentrate on the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing," the Indianapolis 500. This past weekend was qualifying for the race. It's done over two days. The first day is Pole Day. All the drivers make four-lap qualifying runs to set the field for the race. However, there's a slight twist to that. The top-nine drivers, called the "Fast Nine," get half an hour to try and grab the pole for the race. This year, it was all three Penske cars, all five Andretti Autosport cars, and Ed Carpenter. Sounds like the basis for a good joke, right? Anyway, after the dust settled, it was the hometown hero that took the pole. Yes, Ed Carpenter is your pole-sitter for the Indianapolis 500 with a four-lap average of 228.762 mph. Carlos Muñoz and Marco Andretti round out the front row.

The second day is Bump Day. Drivers that qualified lower than 24th have a chance to get back into the race. Some years, this day can get crazy because there are so many drivers trying to make the field. This year, there were nine spots for ten drivers. You kind of knew that drivers like Graham Rahal, Josef Newgarden, Sebastian Saavedra, and Ana Beatriz would not be shut out because of their experience in the series. I do feel for Michel Jourdain Jr., though. He was the only driver to miss the field because his crew just couldn't find the right set-up. They tried all weekend to find a set-up that worked, but it was to no avail.

35 Years and Counting...

I said on Twitter on Sunday that rooting for a Triple Crown winner is like being a Cubs fan. "There's always next year," they say. Once again, the horse racing world is going to have to wait another year. Orb finished 4th in the Preakness. Oxbow won the race. Gary Stevens rode a solid race on Oxbow and deservedly got the win. I think being on the rail hurt Orb a bit. In the pre-race coverage, the other racers were saying how they wanted to pin Orb on the rail. It was almost like they were more concerned with stopping Orb than actually winning the race. That's probably how Oxbow and Gary Stevens won. They just ran their race. It looked like Orb started to make his move way early down the backstretch. When Joel Rosario pulled him up a bit, it looked like Orb couldn't get going again around the final turn. So, once again, we're left to wonder  what could have been and if 2014 will finally be the year. Only good thing about Orb losing is that he'll probably be in the Haskell field at Monmouth Park come this July, but that's a little selfish of me.